It’s Abbott’s fault. And Rudd’s fault. Simon Crean (now) thinks it is the continued speculation about Gillard’s leadership
I think the circuit breaker is getting focused, unified, on message, and talking about the initiatives that we have in place. I think that the Labor party model of changing leadership every time there is a bad poll is broken and discredited, it happened when I was the leader, it’s happened since. What you can’t have is a belief in the revolving door of leadership as the salvation of your position in the public arena. You’ve got to be out and argue your case.
The poll is a
wake up call
and the government needs a
circuit breaker
Bill Shorten says that the problem is a lack of unity
I think every Labor MP understands the value of unity. And I know from my own conversations with plenty of people that we are united in terms of supporting Julia Gillard as leader. We have to be true to ourselves. I believe Julia Gillard is a tough leader for tough times.
Tony Abbott says that Labor’s problems stem from the faceless men
The faceless men got rid of Kevin Rudd. Now the faceless men are looking at getting rid of Julia Gillard. I think it’s time we got rid of the faceless men
Other excuses have been proposed, including poor communication of the government’s policies, the public’s inability to understand Labor’s wonderful policies, an obsession with polls and twitter (according to Conroy) – basically a whole lot of exogenous factors.
But the one thing that is not offered as an excuse – and the one thing that is most likely to be true – is the monumental failure and utter incompetence of the Gillard / Swan government. This Government has poor policies, poorly delivered. It is the poster-child of extreme incompetence. No amount of sugar-coating can change the reality – the Government is filled with a bunch of egotistical and inept men and women who are unfit for office. Most would be overpromoted as APS6 officers in the Australian public service.
Worse than Whitlam.
H B Bear
19 Feb 13 at 6:13 pm
They are turning on their own and it’s great to watch.
tbh
19 Feb 13 at 6:18 pm
Mmmm popcorn.
num num num
jupes
19 Feb 13 at 6:21 pm
I think you will find Mr Rabbit said that. Don’t worry, I don’t bother reading The Australian with any attention either.
Grey
19 Feb 13 at 6:22 pm
What level is that?
Jc
19 Feb 13 at 6:41 pm
Grey is quite right – It is an Abbott comment, not Shorten.
Tsk tsk, blackboard eraser launched at the guilty
Louis Hissink
19 Feb 13 at 6:42 pm
How about …… ” we are an inept bunch of ex-union muppets who couldn’t run a Bunnings sausage sizzle much less implement a policy. Oh, and that is actually a good thing because our policies are shit”
Leigh Lowe
19 Feb 13 at 6:45 pm
Between APS5 and APS7
Leigh Lowe
19 Feb 13 at 6:46 pm
Like I said before, I think this raises some serious questions about the role of Tony Abbott.
He has frequently been seen sneaking away from late-night meetings at Sussex Street.
He goes into the homes of innocent Labor supporters and bites their throats, turning them against all that they hold dear.
He has poisoned the wells.
He steals washing off people’s lines.
He pees in the pool.
He must be stopped. Only a Gillard government can save us from the horrors of Tony Abbott’s leadership.
Philippa Martyr
19 Feb 13 at 6:50 pm
Surely you’re shittin me?!!!
Shorty pants is all cartoonish forehead.
His almost definitionally faceless
JamesK
19 Feb 13 at 6:50 pm
(FIXED THANKS GREY)
Samuel J
19 Feb 13 at 6:58 pm
The faceless men are not the problem
The useless scumsucking septic filth they have to select from is the problem.
Here is a challenge.
Name one labor mp you would bother to piss on if they were on fire.
WhaleHunt Fun
19 Feb 13 at 7:11 pm
Interesting that the only sane suggestion on fixing the ALP comes from Abbott.
See… it is his fault.
duncanm
19 Feb 13 at 7:17 pm
And this is an example of the kind of monstrous acts he convinces his equally deranged acolytes to engage in.
He must be stopped, indeed.
Rabz
19 Feb 13 at 7:33 pm
Don’t dismiss the hip pocket effects of this government.
Except for the tax eaters (especially the ambulance chasers/human rights vultures, APS & Obeids click), you would struggle to find anyone who is better off after 5 years of Labor.
Token
19 Feb 13 at 7:34 pm
If it was just incompetence, they might learn and improve.
It is incompetence mixed with corruption and mendacity – fermented in that cesspool of union thuggery.
Sure…vote in a bunch of union neanderthal thugs – what could go wrong. Naturally the’ve been running Australia like a union – what did you expect?
This government is not just incompetent, it is the Mugabe government and Hugo Chaves governments brought to Australia, but I swear, I think those regimes are more competent and less corrupt than Labor.
Shame on the 45% of Australians who would vote to return this mob.
MichaelC58
19 Feb 13 at 7:48 pm
They are going to have to get a really good set of nuclear sunglasses when the next poll comes out.
It will be ugly.
I am guessing 58:42.
Leigh Lowe
19 Feb 13 at 8:27 pm
You can’t tell with Newspoll these days.
They have been all over the shop in the last 6 months
JamesK
19 Feb 13 at 8:31 pm
Bill Short’un is surely right that Labor MPs “are united in terms of supporting Julia Gillard as leader”- like a zombie chain gang.
Forget the wake up call, the defibrillator (or whatever). The best of Labor’s faceless Resurrection Men couldn’t make anything useful with these political corpses- let the body-snatchers take’em all in September.
Leo G
19 Feb 13 at 8:31 pm
I do wonder if they are going to “randomly sample” the families and friends of Labor again.
Token
19 Feb 13 at 8:36 pm
Grey says:
TFTFY
Rococo Liberal
19 Feb 13 at 8:38 pm
SpongeBill ShortPants
johninoxley
19 Feb 13 at 8:46 pm
I have been talking with Shadowy Forces – and according to them they have given up on Gilliard (cf The Gallaxy poll of woman voters)
The plan of the pollsters is to drive the ALP vote as low as possible and hope they can panic the party into a Ruddstoration. After which the polls will bounce upwards.
Grey
19 Feb 13 at 8:49 pm
Shadowy Forces*
* = Tony Hodges
Grey
19 Feb 13 at 8:52 pm
Phut!
Tony Hodges.
Couldn’t even organise a gang of sherry fuelled brudders into a decent punch up.
Leigh Lowe
19 Feb 13 at 9:00 pm
Where’s me pie ya fuckin’ chink!!
Leigh Lowe
19 Feb 13 at 9:01 pm
Newspoll is next, that’s true.
The one I am looking for is Essential.
The sample is twice as big, they average over two polling periods, and has been much more stable.
Within two polls we will see the full wash-through of the latest cock-ups and I predict it will be 58:42 (if the forces of Kevin re-leavened don’t get in first).
Leigh Lowe
19 Feb 13 at 9:06 pm
Yes well he has gone up in the world since he got his job in the European Bank of Reconstruction.
His presentation on the visionary program of the ALP (Gonski, NDIS, Carbon pricing) at the Bilderberg meeting 2012 was a hit.
Grey
19 Feb 13 at 9:06 pm
You say that like people give a shit about some pathetic paper shuffling echo chamber in Brussels.
Can’t wait for this fucker to return to the Antipodes and brag about his past exploits ….. until the point someone with a sense of decency leaves him spitting up teeth into a pub ashtray.
Leigh Lowe
19 Feb 13 at 9:13 pm
They just can’t get any Clear Air over the steaming turd of their incompetence.
Samuel that is a cruel slight on APS6′s.
Poor old Gough may well die of shame.
Forester
19 Feb 13 at 9:25 pm
Clown nose on!
wreckage
19 Feb 13 at 10:17 pm
He turns beer sour and cows sterile, and causes crops to wither and die. He turned me into a newt, but I got better.
wreckage
19 Feb 13 at 10:25 pm
But not for long. It’s well-known that Tony Abbott will personally revoke all Medicare benefits assisting persons who have been turned into newts who have later recovered. He will forcibly roll back the Gillard government’s consistent support of the hard-working newts of this country.
He also eats the last biscuit in the tin and doesn’t tell anyone.
AND I read recently on Crikey that he scratches his armpit and then smells his fingers.
Philippa Martyr
19 Feb 13 at 10:41 pm
Abbott has assumed a Keyser Söze reputation within the ALP.
ALP ghosts sit around the campfire and tell Tony Abbott stories.
When the ALP goes to sleep every night, they check their wardrobes for Tony Abbott.
Feel free to add.
Splatacrobat
19 Feb 13 at 10:53 pm
Tony Abbott hates women so much he cycles for breast cancer charities.
wreckage
19 Feb 13 at 11:14 pm
Tony Abbott eats other peoples ear wax while sitting in the House of Reps.
H B Bear
19 Feb 13 at 11:20 pm
“Bill Shorten says that Labor’s problems are because of the faceless men (the same who got rid of Rudd)
The faceless men got rid of Kevin Rudd. Now the faceless men are looking at getting rid of Julia Gillard. I think it’s time we got rid of the faceless men”.
None of the above is true. The man most responsible for getting rid of Kevin is Tony. Can we rely on him to do the same to the red haired one? Ooh the dragon slayer. Go Tony.
Anita
19 Feb 13 at 11:45 pm
The little fellah definitely deserves quote of the day:
So many people — not just the headless Getup crazies, but a number of my own friends who aren’t that interested in politics — are going to be shocked when they find out that Prime Minister AbbottAbbottAbbott isn’t the monster his enemies have portrayed him as.
Tom
20 Feb 13 at 8:09 am
I became an APS6 auditor in the Tax Office in 1990 & spent the next 20 years in that role, absolutely loving every minute of it, helping tax cheats find income they didn’t realise they had. I object to any suggestion that this Labor rabble functions at anything like the competence of your average APS6…
Thomo1949
Bill Thompson
20 Feb 13 at 9:17 am
Yesterday at the A.W.U.’s Gold Coast piss-up, Piggy Howes extracted his snout from “Big Bill’s” slops trough for long enough to assure Juliar Gillard (regarded by Slater & Gordon; the Greens and the Australian electorate as being so untrustworthy as to be unemployable): “We’ve got your back!”.
The his benefactor, “Big Bill” Ludwig, he said: “We’ve got your pockets!”.
To the poor suckers of A.W.U. members, he said: “We’ve got your money!”.
And to the destitute widows and orphans of the A.W.U.’s “Goldfields Fatal Accident and Death Fund”, he gave them a one-fingered salute and said: “Get Stuffed!”.
What a compassionate soul. Definitely A.L.P. Prime Ministerial material.
Prime Minister Piggy! (Will they have to re-name “The Lodge” to “The Sty”?)
Oink! Oink!
Up The Workers!
20 Feb 13 at 9:28 am
A half spark ignighted in an old and abandoned tunnel in my brain and I too remember working for the APS, Bill Thompson , for Defence and true it is blackening the name of the people I worked with to compare them with the criminality of those who pretend to represent them.
(Just by the way,Bill, I’m glad you were able to help those men more absentminded than yourself.)
MT Isa Miner
20 Feb 13 at 2:26 pm